Shillong, August 8 : Decrying the JM Lyngdoh Committee on students’ union elections, the Kiang Nangbah Government College Students’ Union (KNGCSU) along with the Tura Government College Students’ Union (TGCSU) said on Wednesday that they have submitted a memorandum urging the Director of Higher and Technical Education to postpone the upcoming election for office bearers of the KNGCSU due this Friday.
Briefing newsmen at the Shillong Press Club Wednesday afternoon, KNGCSU General Secretary Dapoiwanmi Laloo said, “It is very strange that there has never been any circular or order from the government since 2006 when the Supreme Court had passed the interim order. Instead, just four days before the election a notice was pasted on the bulletin board.”
Both the unions feel that the eligibility criteria for candidates to contest the elections as per the Supreme Court order which limits the age from seventeen up to twenty two years, should not be applicable to tribal, as many college students are beyond the valid age.
“We strongly oppose the method applied by our principal in implementing the JM Lyngdoh Committee for conducting the election of the student union, as there will be discrimination among student peers,” Laloo questioned, “Is it fair that a student should be denied the right to contest election just because he is no longer twenty two years of age?”
According to Laloo, the Union’s constitution stipulates that any student studying in the college is eligible to represent the union as member of the executive body.
Widely accepted by the academic community, the six-member committee headed by the former election commission JM Lyngdoh, was appointed by the MHRD on the direction of the Supreme Court in December 2005 to study on the diverse specifics of student union elections and to examine the alleged criminalization in student union elections, financial transparency and limits of expenditure involved in such elections, eligibility criteria for candidates contesting in such elections including the maximum age limits and minimum standards of academic performance, and the need to establish a forum to address grievances and disputes arising out of such elections. By Our Reporter
</
+ There are no comments
Add yours